… of knitting… Or, at least, it felt like it, on Buttercup. I’ve been working on the moss stitch (seed stitch) ruffle for a week now (well, in between knitting on the garter cuff mittens and the rabbit), but all I have is a measly 5 cm (2 inches). Four more centimeters to go before being gathered. Here’s the progress so far, on my madly-curling circulars.
That’s 177 stitches each row, measuring to about 80 cm wide (31.5 inches). And that’s just for the back. That sounds awfully wide for a 2 year old size, doesn’t it? True, it will be gathered later. But I kept wondering whether it would be gathered enough. I don’t mind the cardi turning out a little too big for Annette, but I hope I won’t have to wait say, until she’s 10 years old before it would fit her. I kept checking and rechecking the pattern and my gauge, and yes, they seem to be on track. I have knitted another cardi from this pattern booklet before (in my pre-blogging days). I followed the pattern to the dot back then, and it turned out wonderfully. So I hope I can trust this pattern as well.
The garter cuff mitten is progressing along well. One mitten is done, and I’m halfway through the second one.
In other news, I have two more cardigan projects in the pipeline (!!) I called my parents last sunday to wish my dad a happy birthday (my parents live in Indonesia), and my mum said that she saw my knitting blog. I told her about it a while ago, and even though she’s not internet savvy, she managed to find it. My mum is so sweet, she’s always so supportive of whatever I choose to do. I knitted her a scarf for her birthday last year (one of my first FOs, just a simple 2×2 rib scarf), and even though the weather is permanently hot over there (average temperature for the city she lives in is 30+ degrees Celcius, or almost 90 deg fahrenheit, all year round) she wears it a lot. She’s not a knitter herself (I don’t know anybody who knit in Indonesia, it’s always very hot and humid there), and she’s amazed that a young person like me would be interested in knitting. She doesn’t mean it in the you’re-such-an-old-lady kind of sense, she really means it as a compliment that young people can knit too.
Anyway, she saw my FO picture of Sesame, and she asked if I can knit her a cardigan too. I so didn’t expect that but I was so excited that she actually wanted me to knit her something! Of course I can knit her a cardigan! Her specification was that it should be a cardigan with buttons at the front, the colour should be subdued, not bright, preferably light purple, and that it should have collars, and not too plain. By “not too plain” she’s thinking of some colourwork, probably a touch of fair-isle like what I did with Sesame. I’m thinking fair-isle (especially in woolen yarn) would make the cardigan too warm for Indonesia’s climate, so I might suggest textures instead. So I’ve been scouring for cardigan patterns this last couple of days. Two possible candidates so far are Jess by Anna Bell (which I had been planning to knit for myself), and Shelagh by Elizabeth Morrison. I’m still looking around for more patterns, and then I’ll get mum to pick one.
And while I was talking to my mum on the phone, my sister who was staying at my mum’s place overheard the conversation, and she said she wants a cardigan for her little boy too. Boy oh boy, I’ll be busy won’t I.
